“We do apologize for this late hour, Lady Emily. It wasn’t until we’d already called to reconvene that we were reminded that you were probably asleep,” Maleth said, smiling.
“It’s ok,” Emily said softly from the shadows in the back of the room. She stifled a yawn and saw Leonid wink at her.
“The Council has decided, and have all agreed, that you are guilty on all charges,” Maleth said to Kyle.
Kyle hissed, “Then I demand he be charged also.” He stared at Chevalier.
“We will address those accusations as soon as we are done with you,” Maleth said, angrily.
“Then do it… what’s the punishment?”
Maleth grabbed a piece of paper, “For crimes against the Elder’s wife, we have sentenced you to life in prison.”
Emily gasped.
“Life in prison? Why not kill me?” he asked, mockingly.
“We talked about it, but feel your time is best served thinking about what you have done, and we are going to set an example of you,” he said, proudly.
A guard came and hauled Kyle away as he struggled against the binds. Two more guards appeared and helped them take Kyle to prison.
“Lady Emily, please step forward,” Leonid motioned for her.
Emily stepped out of the shadows and walked up to toward where Kyle had previously been standing.
“Any time an accusation is brought against a member of the Equites, it must be followed up with an inquisition. You heard the accusations brought against the Elder by Kyle, did you not?”
“I did,” she admitted.
“Has the Elder ever purposely hit you?” Maleth asked, glancing quickly at Chevalier.
“No”
“Has he, as accused, ever left a bruise on you?”
Emily looked at Chevalier and he nodded, “Go ahead, it’s ok.”
She nodded and sunk her hands into her pockets.
“When was the first time?” Maleth asked her.
“In Colorado, we’d gotten into a fight over… well… the coven,” she said, watching the dirt floor.
“Where was the bruise?”
“My neck.”
“He choked you?” Maleth asked, surprised.
Emily didn’t answer.
“Yes, I did,” Chevalier said, watching her.
Maleth nodded, “And the next time?”
“I… I was mad, we’d been fighting again and…” she shrugged, “I burned him.”
Maleth gasped, “You burned him?”
Emily nodded, “So he choked me.”
“Again leaving bruises?”
Emily nodded again.
“Then the next time?”
She looked up at Maleth, “That was it.”
“Elder, do you wish to speak in your defense?”
“Nope, no defense,” he said, casually.
“Will you step out then for a moment?” Leonid asked. Chevalier nodded and stepped out of the chambers, shutting the door behind him.
Emily looked up at the Council.
“Lady Emily, do you fear for your life?” Leonid asked, kindly.
“No”
“Are you afraid of your husband?”
“No”
“It’s very important that you tell us. It’s our job to protect you,” Maleth said.
“I don’t need protected from Chev, I love him. I don’t know where Kyle got off saying he controls me, but he doesn’t. I’ve been abused, and I’ve been controlled before, and it wasn’t by him,” she said, watching them.
“You have nothing else to say? No accusations?”
“None, I just want tonight to end, and I want to go back to Chev,” she said, kicking a clump of dirt on the ground.
“Very well, Child. You may go, but we will be watching you. If we feel harm is coming to you, we will have to act,” Maleth said, and opened the side door for her.
Emily walked out and went over to Chevalier as he leaned against the stairs, “How’d that go?”
“I don’t know. They said they’ll be watching me,” she explained, and headed up the stairs, hand-in-hand with Chevalier.
When Emily woke up, she knew what she had to do, but it would put her in danger and would surely make both her guards and Chevalier angry. She promised to stay and not slip her guards, but just this once, she had to get out. She ate breakfast quickly and got dressed. The Cavalry training was to start at 10am, so she only had a few hours to execute her plan. Sam took Allen without question and Emily threw her hair into a pony tail and walked over to the window. She looked down from the fifth-floor window.
Out to the sides of the window were small ledges. She was pretty sure her feet would fit on them. Further off to the sides were drains coming from the roof. Emily opened the window and looked back to make sure no one was coming in the door. She was able to shimmy out onto the small ledge while leaning up against the stone building for support. When she got to the drainpipe, she slid down it to the next floor and repeated until her feet were firmly on the ground and her heart could quit pounding. It was by luck alone that she managed that without falling or being seen.
Emily went in the kitchen door, knowing it was abandoned during this time of the day. It was also close to the doorway she needed. She ran down the hallway, pushed the stone, and impatiently waited the four seconds it took for the prison door to open. She shut it behind her and ran, out of breath, down into the prison room.
“Lady Emily, you can’t be down here!” one of the guards said, frowning.
“Shhhhh,” she said to him, and put her finger to her lips.
He looked around curiously.
“Where’s Kyle?” she asked.
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to insist that you go back upstairs. Where are your guards, anyway?” he asked, taking her arm.
“Guarding an empty room… you just touched me,” she said, and then grinned, it was perfect.
He jerked his hand away, “Sorry, I’m so sorry.”
She watched as he eyed the other door guard.
“Chevalier gets pretty mad when a heku touches me,” she reminded him, watching as his eyes filled with panic.
“Just go upstairs. I won’t mention you came down here, and we’ll keep the touch to ourselves,” he suggested, almost pleading.
“Deal... but first… where’s Kyle?” She crossed her arms.
The guard sighed, “Fourth row, last cell on the right.”
Emily held out her hand, “His key.”
The guard set his jaw, “No, you aren’t letting him go.”
“I know that… I promise not to let him go. Now give me the key or I’ll tell the Elder you were both savoring me,” she said, raising her eyebrows.
“You wouldn’t!”
“I would.”
He growled and handed her a key. She walked to the fourth row of cells, ignoring the hisses and growls from the heku she passed. When she got to Kyle’s cell, he sat up and looked at her.
“Em, what are you doing here?” he asked, shocked as she opened his door and stepped inside.
She shut the door behind her and turned around. Kyle was now standing, and his eyes were wide.
“You have to get out of here, it’s not safe.”
“Why did you do it?” she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
He growled, “Guards! Get her out of the prison.”
“They won’t listen to you. I don’t believe your lame excuse. You are my friend, why did you have to do it?” she asked, and watched him sit down.
“What exactly did I do?” he asked, looking at her curiously.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know why I’m here, Em. No one will tell me,” he said, looking around the bars.
She frowned and watched him, “You… wait… what?”
“I’m sure it’s pretty bad. They say I’m in for life, but when I ask why, they just growl and walk away.”
“You were at the trial.”
“I’m sure I was. Tell me plea
se. Don’t make me spend an eternity down here without knowing why.”
“You… you attacked me,” she said, watching his face.
“I wouldn’t do that!”
“After the boat crashed.” She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she didn’t trust him.
Kyle sighed and laid his head in his hands, “I don’t remember the boat crashing.”
“You don’t remember tearing my clothes off?” she asked, surprised.
He looked up at her, “I wouldn’t do that.”
“Or feeding off of me,” she said, and heard a hiss from across the hallway.
“Emily, you have to believe me, I wouldn’t do that. You know I care about you, but I would never do anything to hurt you and I wouldn’t do anything to anger Chevalier.”
“It was you, Kyle. I’m not lying.”
“I don’t doubt it… I don’t know what’s happening. I can’t remember anything since we were out on the boat. Then… I’m here,” he said, looking around the bare cell.
“We need to tell someone then,” Emily said, concerned.
“Don’t do it. You shouldn’t even be down here. Where are your guards?” he asked, looking out the cell toward the hallway.
“Upstairs, I’m guessing,” she said, looking at the floor.
“You promised to stop slipping them.”
“I had to talk to you.”
“Why? If I did the things you said, you shouldn’t be near me.”
“I can’t leave you down here, not if you can’t even remember it,” she said, grabbing the key from her pocket.
He grabbed her wrist, “Don’t, that would cause more problems than you can imagine. You need to stay away from me, do you hear me?”
She shook her head, “I have to do something.”
“You have to stay with your guards and forget about me,” he whispered.
Kyle’s eyes grew wide and he stepped back away from Emily, letting go of her wrist. She turned just as a hand grabbed the collar of her shirt and she felt the wind as she was thrown against the stone wall of the prison. The force knocked the wind out of her, and she slumped down to the cold floor.
“How dare you touch her,” Chevalier said to Kyle.
“I was just stopping her from letting me out, I swear,” Kyle said.
“After what you’ve done, you shouldn’t even be talking to her,” Chevalier growled.
“I told her to leave. I was trying to get her to go back to her guards,” Kyle said, softly.
“You’re lucky I don’t tear you apart right here.”
Emily heard the cell door slam and a hard hand on her arm hauled her up so she could stand. She winced as Chevalier roughly pulled her from the prison and up the stairs. Her arm was aching by the time they got to the bedroom, and she couldn’t even look at her guards as they passed them. Chevalier slammed the door shut and threw her against the bed.
“What were you doing?” he asked, seething.
Emily tried to rub some feeling back into her arm, “I had to talk to him.”
“You had to? You promised me you would stay with your guards.” Emily was sure she’d never seen him quite this angry. There was a dark shadow across his face, and his furious eyes were deep and swirling.
“I’m sorry, ok? I had to talk to him.”
“What did you have to talk to him about so badly that you’d slip your guards, threaten the door guards in the prison, and actually go into the cell with him?” He took a step toward her, and she crawled back further on the bed.
“Calm down, please,” she said, standing up on the other side of the bed.
“I will not.” He stepped around the bed to face her.
“He doesn’t know what he did.”
“Of course he doesn’t,” he said, and took another step closer to her.
“You have to talk to him, Chev, listen to him. He doesn’t know why he’s in prison.” She took another step away from him, but found her back against the wall.
“Yes he does. He’s just playing off of your fragile mortal emotions.” He gritted his teeth.
“Fragile mortal emotions?”
“He knew you would eventually feel bad for what he did. He’s planned this entire thing. I just can’t believe you were stupid enough to fall for it.”
“I’m not stupid,” Emily glared at him, and she could feel her temper flare.
Chevalier was at her in one step and grabbed her upper arms, picking her up off the floor, “What do I have to do to get a little bit of obedience from you?”
“You’re hurting me,” she said to him, fearfully.
“Tell me… what I have to do to get you to stay with your guards?” he snapped at her, and slammed her roughly against the wall.
Emily screamed when her head hit the wall and she heard the front door open. Chevalier turned to look at the four guards, and then let go of her. She fell to the ground and he blurred out the door.
Mark knelt down and looked into her eyes, “Are you hurt?”
“Get away from me,” she said, trying to stand up, but her knees buckled under her. Mark lifted her up and sat her on the bed.
“Get the doctor,” he ordered.
“No,” she told him, and the heku at the door stopped.
“Emily, something’s wrong,” Mark said to her.
“Get back to your post,” she tried to sound fierce.
“But…”
“Now,” she yelled, sitting up. The guards bowed and returned to their station outside of her door, and shut it behind them.
Emily leaned her pounding head into her hands and took some deep breaths. She did a quick check over her body and other than her headache, a neck pain, and her aching arms, she wasn’t injured. Thinking quickly, she went back out her window. This time she didn’t care who saw her, but she needed two minutes alone with Kyle. The prison guards were shocked when she walked in and she glared at them as she walked by.
“Why are you back here?” Kyle asked, coming to the cell.
“We’re leaving,” she said, digging the keys from her pocket.
“What?”
“I need to get away, please, just come.” Her eyes frantically looked toward the guards.
“Emily, are you ok? Did he hurt you?” he asked, looking at the bruises on her arm.
Emily nodded.
“Tell no one where you’re going. Go, now,” he said, urgently.
Emily hesitated, and then ran up the stairs. When her guards saw her, they gasped. She ignored them and ran into the bedroom.
“Sam, come here,” she yelled, and he appeared from Allen’s room.
“Pack up, we’re getting out of here,” she told him.
Emily dug deep in her bureau and pulled out an envelope. She folded it and put it in her back pocket just as the door opened.
“Are you leaving?” Maleth asked, shutting the door.
“Yes,” she told him.
“I’m sorry. I can’t let you leave.” He was moving toward her.
She looked up at him surprised, “Why not?”
“We need you. Since we’ve seen your abilities, we swore to keep you here under our protection.” He put a hand on her shoulder.
Emily jerked away from him, “You can’t keep me here.”
“I can and I will.” She saw the same dark shadow cross his face that Chevalier had. Maleth took her wrist.
“Let go of me, Maleth. I’m not one of your heku you can boss around.” She tried to get her wrist free, but he only held tighter.
“All we need from you is some obedience.” He looked down at her ominously.
“Let go, don’t make me ash an elder,” she said, angrily.
Maleth brought his hand up quickly, and when the back of his hand connected with her cheek, she flew back several feet and landed hard on the wooden floor. As she got her knees, she could feel the blood trailing down her face.
“Elder?” Mark asked. They heard Emily scream and walked in just in time to see the Elder hit her. The guards were
n’t sure what to do, they were her protection, but he was their elder.
Encala : Book 3 of the Heku Series Page 11
